The Misericordia University baseball team opened its season with an impressive 26-7 victory over SUNY-Maritime on Saturday evening in Vero Beach, FL.
 
Kyle Lindsay and Mike Comerford led the relentless Cougar's offense, driving in four runs each. Comerford finished the night 4-6 with a triple and a long blast off the batter's eye in centerfield while Lindsay went 3-5 with a double and a triple in the win.
 
Nick Hair drove in four runs while Miles Westrich finished with two triples and three RBI. Evan Bush chipped in with a two-run triple and Brian Eshleman crushed a solo homer to left. Alec Iurato, D.J. Navoczynski and Al Reda all drove in runs.
 
A total of 13 Cougars reached base safely in the season opening victory. MU finished the game with 22 hits and drew 13 walks.
 
Nick Deno (1-0) earned the win in relief of Ryan Dorosh. Deno tossed two innings and struck out one. Dorosh was credited with the no decision after striking out five in his three innings of work. Kyle Rogalski, Dillon Del Rosso, Mike Bernet and Anthony LoBello combined to allow just one run in the final four innings while striking out five.
 
Lindsay got the offense started early with an RBI double to right-center. The Cougars then executed the double steal with runners on the corners to take a 2-0 lead after one.
 
Eshleman roped one over the left field wall and Reda scored on a fielder's choice in the second while Westrich cleared the bases with his first triple of the game to give MU a 6-0 lead heading into the home half of third.
 
Maritime made things interesting in the bottom of the third, scoring four runs to come within 6-4.
 
However, the Cougar's offense exploded for seven runs over the next two innings to take an 11-4 lead into the bottom of the fifth.
 
The Privateers added two more runs in the fifth, but the MU offense just kept scoring and eventually captured the 26-7 victory.
 
The Cougars are now 1-0 on the season and return to action Sunday morning at 10 against Elizabethtown in Fort Pierce, FL.